Christopher Reames (tenor) and Kanako Reames (piano) perform art songs by Robert Schumann and Francis Poulenc.
Dichterliebe, Op. 48 (1840).
Composed by Robert Schumann (1810-1856)
(A Poet’s Love) Text by Heinrich Heine (1797-1856)
Tel jour, telle nuit, FP.86 (1937)
Composed by, Francis Poulenc (1899-1963)
(As the day, so the night) Text by Paul Eluard (1895-1952)
Bios
American tenor Christopher Reames is establishing an exciting and engaging career as a concert artist, recitalist, and dynamic performer on the operatic stage. Chris is a winner of The Gérard Souzay Prize for French Singing appropriated by Dalton Baldwin and administered by The Art Song Preservation Society of New York, who co-sponsored his New York City recital debut of beloved French mélodies in Marc A. Scorca Hall at The National Opera Center. Chris’ compelling performances captivate audiences with beauty and sensitivity, and he has been praised for his “lustrous” singing and “great musicality” by The Examiner of Greater Kansas City.
Chris is a recent finalist in national competitions such as the Joy in Singing Artist Award Competition, New York Oratorio Society Solo Competition, Franco-American Vocal Academy Grand Concours de Chant, Art Song Preservation Society of New York Mary Trueman Song Competition and the National Association of the Teachers of Singing Artist Award Competition. Recent operatic performances include Arturo in Lucia di Lammermoor and Prologue/Peter Quint in The Turn of the Screw with Stony Brook Opera, Slender in The Merry Wives of Windsor, the title role in Weber’s Oberon,Gomatz in Zaide, and Tamino in Die Zauberflöte with the Manhattan based Occasional Opera Company.
An avid performer of sacred music, his recent concert performances include Uriel in The Creation with the Village Church Choir and Orchestra at Kansas City’s own Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, Mozart’s Vesperae solennes de confessore and Obadiah in Elijah with the Huntington Choral Society, Evangelist in both theSt. John and St. Matthew Passions,and as the tenor soloist in The Messiah with the Musica Lumina chamber ensemble of Niles, IL and with the Long Island Choral Society, J.S. Bach’s Magnificat with St. Peter’s By-the-Sea Episcopal Church of Bay Shore, NY, excerpts from Bach’s Weihnachts Oratorium with St. John’s Church of Cold Spring Harbor, NY, several of Bach’s sacred cantatas, and secular works by Purcell and Monteverdi with the Stony Brook Baroque Ensemble, and under the direction of John Harbison at the Tanglewood Music Center in Lenox, MA.
Passionate about the art of recital singing, Chris’ diverse repertoire spans more than 400 years from Monteverdi, Handel, Haydn and Mozart through Beethoven and Schumann to Debussy, Poulenc, Britten, Barber and Messiaen. Highlights include Schubert’s Auf dem Strom, Schumann’s Dichterliebe, Poulenc’s Tel jour telle nuit, Beethoven’s An die ferne Geliebte, Brahms’Fünf Lieder, Op. 47, Debussy’s Fêtes galantes,and many selections fromThe Great American Songbook. He possesses a particular affinity for French melodies, and for British art song repertoire, and has received great praise from audiences following recent performances of Vaughan Williams’ On Wenlock Edge, Finzi’s Farewell to Arms, Gurney’s “Trench” songs, Britten’s Winter Words, and Three Songs from “The Heart of the Matter”, including Canticle III.
In addition to his career as a soloist, Chris has equally thrived in both large and small choral ensembles. He served the celebrated St. Peter’s By-the-Sea Episcopal Church Parish Choir in Bay Shore, NY as a staff section leader and soloist from 2011-18. In a similar role, he previously served superior choral music programs at Green Valley Presbyterian Church in Henderson, NV, Village Presbyterian Church in Prairie Village, KS, and the Church of St. Patrick in Huntington, NY. Singing sacred choral music at a high level remains a consistent artistic priority for him, as it has provided many rewarding musical opportunities, and a fulfilling sense of community contribution and leadership.
Chris is a past fellowship recipient at the Tanglewood Music Center, SongFest, Aspen Music Festival, Hawaii Performing Arts Festival, Cincinnati College-Conservatory’s Opera Theatre and Music Festival of Lucca, Italy, and is an alumnus of the prestigious N.A.T.S. Internship Program. He holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, a Master of Music degree from the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, and a Bachelor of Science degree from William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri. Chris is currently an Assistant Professor of Vocal Music at Tennessee Technological University in Cookeville, TN.
Kanako Reames
Kanako Reames, a highly sought-after collaborative pianist, currently serves as an adjunct faculty at Tennessee Technological University. Also as an instructor specializing in educating the young pianist, many of her students have won or placed in regional piano competitions. With more than a decade of teaching experience, she currently maintains a thriving private piano studio. A former collaborative and solo piano faculty member at the Mahanaim School and Gracias Academy in Huntington, NY, Kanako also enjoyed accompanying fellow musicians throughout Long Island and the Tri-State area. She formerly served as a collaborative artist at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and the Nevada School of the Arts, where she worked closely with both singers and instrumentalists. Kanako is a recipient of the Felix Viscuglia Award for Best Instrumental Performer at UNLV, where she also won the University of Nevada, Reno and the UNLV Concerto Competitions. Showing much promise as a young pianist, Kanako appeared as a soloist with the NHK Dan Yu Orchestra in Tokyo. Her formal musical study took place at the Toho Gakuen School of Music, the International Keyboard Institute, and the Toho Gakuen College of Music in Tokyo, from which she holds a Bachelor of Music degree. She also holds a Master of Music degree in piano performance from UNLV.